Agreed, most of the things on the list are already done without a blockchain. There is no value judgment implied — and I wonder aloud in the intro which ones of these are actually valid use cases.

But I do feel that in many cases, a blockchain adds something different, such as the ability to transfer value without a trusted, centralised intermediary.

Undoubtedly we are near the peak of the Gartner hype cycle right now when it comes to blockchain, and many unrealistic things have been said and promised, but I still feel this is a debate worth having.